San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-18
THREE Elton boys.
BY w. E. NORRIS.

the victim Obstinately refused to raise her
head from the block However, not to
discourage my unfortunate friend more
than was necessary, j promised him |
would think the dilemma over very care
fully: and, either because drowning men
will clutch at straws or because he had
really misplaced confidence in my abilities,
this assurance seemed to comfort him a
great deal.
At my own gate, where he found his
dog cart waiting he babe me good by.
81 shall look you up tomorrow afternoon,
old chap" said he. by that time, III
be bound to say, you'll have hit upon
some idea" In which oversanguine an
ticipation he drove away.
And now II was that my dear mother
showed the spirited stuff of which she is
made. Not word would she listen to Of
my sober representations as to the danger
of intermeddling with our neighbors' af-
fairs, and when / was shabby enough to
quote her against herself, reminding her
that these things were ordered for us and
that all was doubtless for the best, though
we, with our limited intelligence, might
not be able TO see it, she became quite
angry.
"Another time" said she, 81 will show
you the folly and wickedness of such talk.
For the present, it is enough to say that /
will not have my poor Mildred married to
a man whom she detests in payment of
anybody's debts.'
81 don't think she detests him" i an
swered, "but let that pass. How are you
going to prevent her from being handed
over to him p'
Thereupon, to my utter amazement, she
coolly informed me that she intended to
go up to Staines Court and beard the new
AgamemnOn in his den. AS she had not
been outside the limits of our own garden
for a matter of twenty years, and as the
only conveyance that we possess is a two
wheeled pony cart, 1t may be imagined
how this proposition took my breath away.
"Lord Staines," she went on, with a
smile, sis too feeble to leave the house.
The mountain will not come to MOham-
med, so Mohammed must go to the noun
tain. / shall write and ask him to send a
carriage for me, and you must hoist me
into it somehow
This proposed borrowing of the enemy's
transport in order to reach the battlefield
was stroke of humor which i appreci-
ated, but could not, of course, sanction
it, 1t was not however, until l had as
sured my mother that she should only
leave the house over my PROSTATE body
that she yielded, with a very bad grace,
saying: $50 be it, then; but please to I'M
derstand, Henry, that 1 see my duty
plainly marked out for me, and that
shall not be deferred from doing it. You
must bring this Mr.. Beauchamp to call
upon me-"
When my mother addresses me as
Henry" it means that she is in no mood
to be trifled with. Accordingly l walked
up to Staines Court the next morning,
asked for Beauchamp, told him what a
pleasure II was to meet him again IA
pleasure in which he did not appear to
participate), and mentioned that my
mother, who lived hard by, was most
anxious to make his acquaintance. He
was a polite young man, and, though
evidently much surprised by this sudden
development of friendliness on my part,
he made no difficulty about returning
home with me.
My mother received him in that bright
little upstairs sitting room where so much
Of her life has been spent, and about
which there always clings a faint, old
fashioned smell of potpourri. She is a
very beautiful, refined looking old lady,
and it is my belief that she is perfectly
aware of the fact. | noticed that she was
wearing a little Of the treasured Mechlin
lace which belonged to her great grand
mother, and as soon as she opened her
lips perceived that she had put on her
very best manner, which, like the lace, is
only assumed upon occasions of impor
lance.
She made me place chair for Beau
champ beside her sofa and smiled gra-
ciously upon him over the top of a large
fan, which she swayed gently to and fro
while she spoke ''It is very good of you,
SIR" she began, Ito visit bed ridden
old woman whose conversation can have
few attractions for you. Indeed, should
not have ventured to put you to so much
inconvenience, had l not had special
motive for doing So"
suppose Beauchamp had never heard
anything like this before in all his days.
He was quite unaccustomed to being
called ''sir'' and condescended to, and it
evidently f1ustered him.
"Oh, but you really, you know, Mrs.
Maynard-upon my word-delighted, Pm
surer' said he, with all the graceful
eloquence of the age.
"You are so kind, " resumed my mother
suavely, las to say so, but l must not
flatter myself that your presence here is
due to any other cause than to courtesy,
which, as 1 have always understood, is
natural to you"
She went on in this strain for some lit
tie time, gradually working up to her
point, and anything funnier in its way
than the contrast which she presented to
her bewildered interlocutor have seldom
witnessed. At length she shut up her fan
with a snap, exclaiming, more in sorrow
than in anger:
"And can what I hear be true, Mr..
Beauchamp' Can it be that you, gentle
man and a man Of honor, are not only
forcing your attentions upon lady to
whom they are distasteful, but that you
have actually made her acceptance of
your hand the subject Of pecuniary bar
gain with her father2''
He assured her earnestly that it was not
true; she had been misinformed. Moth
ing would induce him to force his atten-
tons upon anybody who-who-in short,
who didn't want them. "And as for a
bargain, there never really was any bar
gain at al-at least, not in the way that
you mean-there wasn't indeedl I'm sure
l shall be only too happy to oblige you,
Mrs. Maynard, II you'll tell me what you
wish me to do, and if you won't be-eX-
cuse me-quite so awfully polite about it."
Thus adjured, my mother consented to
unbend and make her meaning plain.
Without mentioning Jim's name, she gave
it to be understood that Lady Mildred's
affections were engaged; after which, she
discreetly insinuated that although, I'M
der such circumstances, Mr.. Beauchamp
must feel that it would be out of the